Note: Sorry for not updating. I've been a little busy elsewhere-namely my roleplaying habit. I'll try to get back on track updating. Though since I have classes again, working on any of my projects might be a tad difficult. If it's been a while and you're starting to worry about the status of the story, don't hesitate to send me a message about it.

Traitors Among Us: Chapter 4

Marluxia walked into his garden and picked up a watering can that sat by the entrance before going to fill it to give his 'babies' a little drink. Not that the watering can, itself was particularly small, of course, since he didn't like the idea of constantly filling it up. He could have used a water hose for the purpose of watering his flowers, but he felt it took away from the individual time with each patch. And he'd always liked to have some time with each of them, since he almost preferred them over some people.

He began watering them, and slowly made his way through them to the sunflower patch where Kixyu was sleeping. When he saw the young girl, he stopped and crossed his arms for a few minutes. She looked so peaceful, and not like she could do any damage to his garden he cared for so much. Although she was also Demyx's younger sister, so he couldn't be too sure she wouldn't do any damage. And as it was, she had managed to give him some problems when they met, along with Xicra.

Shaking his head, he bent down and picked the sleeping Nobody up by her collar, quickly waking her up. "And might I ask what you're doing sleeping in amongst my sunflowers?"

Kixyu blinked completely awake and gave him a wide-eyed, slightly nervous look. "O-oh, hi, Marly... I was just sleeping. It looked inviting and I love sunflowers, so I figured to take a little cat-nap. I hope you don't mind... I just wanted a better look around the castle and found your garden. It's very pretty."

Marluxia sighed and watched Kixyu. "Well, you don't seem to have done any damage to the place, so I can't arbitrarily kick you out. And so it seems you have something of an appreciation for nature, if you were sleeping so peacefully." He put Kixyu down and watched her shape-shift back to normal.

Kixyu smiled. "I had a friend who loved nature, and had his own garden that he took care of. He was always giving out flowers, too, to those who would appreciate them."

"And I suppose he taught you that appreciation", said Marluxia.

"Yep, he certainly did", said Kixyu. "Sorry about coming in without asking, though. I was just curious. Axy said something about a garden in the castle, but he didn't bring us in to look at it, or even come close to it."

"Of course not", said Marluxia. "I've banned him from coming in unsupervised because of his tendency to set the flowers aflame for one reason or another. One day, it's to burn off steam, another, he wants to get back at me for something. Surely he can find other things to burn that won't get him in trouble."

Kixyu nodded. "I understand. There are some things you just don't burn. Flowers and books being my favorite examples."

"You don't exactly strike me as a reader", said Marluxia.

"Believe it or not, I am", said Kixyu. "I just don't strike people as a lot of things because of my cheerful and almost hyper disposition." She paused. "So would you mind if I spent some time in here now and again?"

Marluxia watched Kixyu for a few seconds before smiling and resting a hand on her head. "I don't mind at all. Does your friend like flowers as well?"

Kixyu nodded. "Where I like sunflowers most, she likes roses, though." She gently moved Marluxia's hand from her head. "I still don't know a heck of a lot about her, though. We only met a few months ago. She's from Radiant Garden where I'm from Valley Grove. And she's a bit secretive at times. Seems to me like she tried to guard herself in the past to keep from getting hurt."

Marluxia nodded. "I see."

A pair of cyan eyes flicked around and the silverette girl they belonged to quickly swung the keyblade with a cross for teeth in her left hand around to attack a Shadow heartless before it could steal her heart. She didn't honestly know what was in her hands, though, it just appeared as the heartless appeared and she needed to fend them off. But she'd heard about the heartless from rumors, and that they would attack someone and try to steal their hearts. And she certainly didn't want to lose her emotions completely. She was detached enough already, as it was.

"Damn things", she muttered as she attacked more and they turned into puffs of black smoke. "Would have thought they'd stop popping up everywhere."

"Ok, so our mission is..." Kixyu looked at the small slip of paper Saix had handed her that morning, a few days later. It was her first real mission, with her older brother, after having her abilities completely tested. Although she still didn't show her weapon. "Cripe, our home? Have you ever gone back for a mission?"

Demyx read the mission and shook his head. "Nope, not once. I guess there's a big heartless... I'm not cut for fighting", he whined. "I do recon!"

"Well, apparently Sai-Sai seems to think you need to toughen up", said Kixyu. "I personally don't think you're as weak as he and Xemmy think." She looked up at the Nocturne. "Just a lazy-bones."

Demyx pouted. "Come on, Sis, that's not very nice."

"Hey, I'm just being honest", said Kixyu. "Anyway, we should get going and get this mission over with. There's another little slip of paper, too." She pulled one from behind the main mission. "If we can find any more Nobodies, bring them back with us."

"Right..." Demyx took the other slip of paper. "It doesn't say what kind of heartless it is... I guess we just find a giant heartless, beat it, and get back before we get hurt too bad."

Kixyu nodded and opened a Corridor Of Darkness. "Then let's get a move on." She grabbed Demyx's wrist and pulled him along behind her as she headed through the Corridor to their home world.

The two Nobodies stepped out to an all but demolished house and pulled their hoods up before proceeding. Demyx watched as his sister quickly transformed into her house cat form and dart off towards the lightly wooded area. He had to quickly run after her to keep up with her fast pace, not having realized she'd gotten even faster with the passing time. Not that he really knew why they were headed into the trees for their mission, since he didn't think there'd be enough room for a giant heartless to hide. Unless she knew something he didn't.

While Kixyu scampered through the trees with Demyx following her flicking tail, her blue eyes darted around for something out of the ordinary. She had no clue what she was looking for, but her instincts told her to search the forest first. And she liked to trust her instincts, as they didn't usually let her down. As it was, her instincts had gotten her out of a lot of sticky situations before she'd met up with Xicra. And the brunette woman had come to learn to also trust them, even if she did insist to use some logic in with them.

After a while, she stopped behind one tree and her fur bristled, forcing Demyx to stop and look around in almost panic. He heard her hiss and looked forward to see a gaggle of assorted heartless appear around a Veil Lizard. Kixyu jumped back, hissing even louder, and Demyx gave a yelp of surprise and fear. He almost ran off, but Kixyu quickly transformed into a lioness and stopped him. They both knew that it would probably take both of them to deal with the heartless they were now facing.

"They want us to beat that thing", Demyx almost shrieked. "That's scary!"

"Look, we can take care of this thing", said Kixyu. She relaxed before lunging at a few of the smaller heartless.

Demyx watched for a second before he summoned his weapon, his sitar, and began to bash the heartless with it. He didn't really want to fight, but he knew that Kixyu wouldn't be pleased if she had to fight on her own. And he didn't want her to get too beat up because he was being scared and lazy. There wasn't much that would really motivate him, but the possibility of his family being hurt would motivate him to action.

Larxene walked down the halls towards her room, although stopped as she saw Xicra walking out of Vexen's lab. She quickly remembered how Marluxia had told her to befriend the two new members, no matter how she really thought of them. She groaned silently to herself, though, since she didn't really feel like associating herself with Vexen's daughter, for fear she'd be just like him. And she didn't really like Vexen much, if at all. She knew she was assuming a good deal, but it never hurt to be prepared for what could happen.

Xicra looked up at Larxene as she closed the door, and walked over to her. "Is there something I can help you with", she asked almost nervously. "Or... Um, something?"

"Hi, I'm Larxene", said Larxene, forcing a smile. "You're the other newbie here. Uh... Xicra, is it?"

The brunette nodded carefully, not sure whether she should trust the blond or not. After all, Vexen had warned her of a few of the other members she didn't really know that well. "I am. Erm... Is all you wanted was to introduce yourself...?" She began to habitually fidget with her gloves out of nervousness.

"And you're the old co- Vexen's", she struggled with the name, almost, "kid, too, aren't you?"

Xicra relaxed slightly and smiled in amusement. "You were about to call him an old coot, weren't you?" As Larxene paled slightly, she chuckled lightly. "Oh, I know he's an old coot already. That's nothing new to me. Even I'll call him old. Not exactly to his face, but all the same." She slipped her hands into her bell-like sleeves. "I may be his daughter, but it doesn't make me a female version of him. I'm actually more like my mom. And for future reference, I'm actually eighteen. Please don't mistake me for a kid."

Larxene's smile widened and the color returned to her face. "I think I like you already."

Xicra nodded, although still told herself to keep a close watch on Larxene and some distance between them as friends for a while. "So now what?"

"Feel like messing with any of the guys", asked Larxene.

"How about Xiggy", asked Xicra. "We've a history of prank wars."

Larxene chuckled. "Fill me in on his tricks while we get started." She walked closer to the short woman and slung an arm around her shoulders and lead her off to her room. "You've got to know something good."

"I should think so, with all the summers I spent living with him and Numbers III through VI", Xicra said, walking along with Larxene.

Vexen listened as the two women walked away from outside his lab. He knew that Larxene must be up to something to so quickly try to befriend his only daughter. And he didn't like that Xicra had so willingly gone with her, as there was no telling what she might do to sway her away from him. Although he knew that he had to have some faith in Xicra, since she was far from stupid. He could only hope that Xicra planned to keep a close watch for any tricks from the Nymph and keep some distance.

The silverette girl sighed as she finished the last heartless off and was sure that she was finished with them. But she glanced towards the lightly wooded forest as she heard some yelling coming from deep inside it. Before she acted and ran towards it, though, she went through what could be going on. And then, figuring she may as well check since she wasn't that tired, she hurried towards it. Not that it took long with her rather long legs and generally fast pace.

She stopped once she was inside the forest and crept through the trees, being careful not to attract the attention of anything that might be there. Eventually, she spotted a lioness and a hooded boy fighting off against more of the heartless. She was almost tempted to help them, but thought again about what might happen afterwards. She didn't want them to turn on her when she was probably even more tired than they were. So she just stood and watched them, analyzing their movements and attacks.

Eventually, she watched as the boy was knocked back against a tree and his hood finally fell, revealing an all too familiar face and hairstyle. She watched Demyx in shock, as she'd known him when he was still Myde. Although she couldn't be sure that he was the same, as Kixyu had kept calling him by his Organization name. Although she recognized his yelps as those Myde would make when she startled him. And she even recognized Kixyu's voice as his sister, Yuki. It made her wonder all the more what was going on.

All she did, though, still, was watch as they finally destroyed the heartless they were fighting. When Kixyu transformed back to her normal form, she saw the familiar pigtails from Yuki and knew they had to be two of her missing friends. She continued to watch as Kixyu called the mission done and Demyx said they should relax some before leaving. Kixyu agreed and sat down beside him, mentioning something about the Organization and her first mission.

"Hmm... I'm going to have to keep an eye on those two", the silverette muttered. "And anyone else in that outfit... Whoever they all are."

Kixyu looked up towards where the silverette stood hiding as she heard the snap of a twig and a very quiet curse. She frowned slightly and stood, slowly walking towards where the noise had come from. "Dem-Dem, I'll be back in a few minutes", she said before walking farther and pulling up her hood.

The silverette's eyes widened as Kixyu neared her, and knew she had to act fast and not think first for once. She quickly turned and ran back out of the forest, not caring how much noise she made. She didn't know what would happen if Kixyu caught her, as she seemed different from the last time they saw each other, years ago.

As the silverette ran off, Kixyu caught sight of the ends of her hair and quickly chased after her, transforming into her house cat form. She didn't know who it was, but she wasn't going to let her go without a chase of some kind. Although once she reached the clearing, the silverette was completely gone. Not that there was anywhere she could have already gotten to. She stopped for a few minutes to think, and then just turned and hurried back to Demyx.

When she reached Demyx, she transformed back to normal again and removed her hood. "Ok, that was weird. They disappeared. Whoever it was."

Demyx frowned and stood up. "Saix probably won't be happy if we tell him that someone saw us, will he?"

Kixyu shrugged. "Don't know. Maybe we should just leave that part out, then. I don't want to get in trouble with my first mission. Let's just get back to the castle and report to Sai-Sai."

Demyx nodded and watched as Kixyu opened a Corridor and dragged him through it.

A tall bulk of a man with hazelnut hair pulled Xicra and Larxene up from the floor as they walked back to Xicra's room with assorted household items and other things in their arms. "And what are you two doing?"

Xicra blinked and looked up at the man as Larxene groaned and rolled her eyes. "Lexeaus... right?"

Lexeaus paused and watched Xicra for a few seconds before smiling. "Well, Xicra, it's been a long time, hasn't it? I'm a little surprised I haven't seen you until now, actually."

"Hey, let us go", said Larxene. "We're kind of busy at the moment."

Xicra chuckled nervously at Larxene. "Yeah... We were getting ready to do something."

Lexeaus frowned slightly and looked at the items they were holding. "Alright, does this involve something with Xigbar?"

"How could you tell", asked Xicra.

Lexeaus sighed. "What are you planning this time?"

"Just a little present", said Larxene.

"And knowing you two, it's going to end with a prank war." Axel walked over to the three Nobodies, smirking lightly.

"We don't need any of that", said Lexeaus. He set the two women down and proceeded to take the things out of their arms.

Xicra pouted. "It's been years since I played a good prank on Xigbar", she said. "And it's not like it was anything bad or major."

Lexeaus watched the brunette and blond carefully for a minute before handing everything back to them with a sigh. "Just don't make this a habit again. And I didn't even see you with this stuff." He turned and walked away from them.

Xicra and Larxene exchanged wide grins.

"So I guess you two are getting along already", said Axel. "A little surprised, since-"

"I figure I'd better look after the new girls here", said Larxene, interrupting Axel before he could finish his statement. "And I have agreed to be a little nicer to the old coot."

"Hey, can you do us a favor and have Roxas come to our room in about an hour or so", asked Xicra.

Axel raised an eyebrow. "Why-"

"You'll see when you see Xigbar later tonight", said Xicra. "We need Roxas to be the delivery boy for a few 'avid fans'. Just tell him I need his help, though. I'm not sure he'll be eager to help if Larxene's mentioned."

Axel shrugged. "Got it memorized", he sighed, turning around. "I'll let him know."

"And this is one reason why you're one of my best friends", Xicra said as Axel left.

Roxas sighed and carried the brightly wrapped box to Xigbar's room, on request from Xicra and Larxene. Axel had told him Xicra needed a small favor from him, but he hadn't mentioned that Larxene was with her. He wasn't sure whether the two of them working together on something for Xigbar was a good idea or not. After all, Xigbar had mentioned that Xicra already liked to pull pranks on him as it was. So if she was getting together with the so-called 'witch' in the Organization, he could only wonder what they'd done.

But he had to act cheerful and like it was just a delivery from some very avid fans of his. So he forced a bright smile before he reached the Freeshooter's room, where he was at, at the moment. Moving the box into one hand, he knocked on the door and waited for Xigbar to open it so he could give him the present. When the door opened to reveal a slightly confused Xigbar, the blond boy nearly panicked, since he didn't want to incur whatever wrath might be dished out after everything was said and done.

With an innocent chuckle, Roxas held the box up to Xigbar, who carefully took it. "I was told to deliver this to you from some very... avid fans of yours."

Xigbar quickly grinned at Roxas. "Sure, just so you don't say it was from you. Knew you admired me."

Roxas almost went to slap him, but just laughed. "No, it was from a couple of girls. They just wouldn't reveal themselves. I guess they've seen you out on missions or something."

"Right", Xigbar chuckled. "Thanks for the delivery."

He closed the door as Roxas nodded and walked away, before going over to his desk and setting the box down to carefully inspect the wrapping paper and ribbon. But he shrugged when he found nothing to be suspicious of and carefully undid the bright ribbon. But then he just tore through the wrapping paper and went to untape the box. He noted that whoever had sent whatever was in the box liked tape, to have put so much on it.

When he finally opened the box, he had to quickly close his eyes and brace himself as several things, including paintballs, came flying at him. He gave a loud curse and backed away, even though it hardly spared him from the contents of the box. After it all stopped, he sighed and walked over to his bathroom and checked the mirror to find that he was covered in paint and random items were glued to him. He attempted to clean it all off, but found that it was all stuck and wouldn't budge.

He sighed and walked out of the bathroom, slamming the door closed, and, although he really didn't want to, walked out of his room to find Xicra. Somehow, he just knew it had been her that had put the box together for him to fall victim to. She was the only prankster he knew of to be able to get one of the most innocent-looking of the members to deliver it to him. Mostly since Axel had called a bit of a truce for the time being. And he swore to himself he'd have his revenge once he got cleaned up.

To Be Continued